Pillow block



Sept. 1, 1959 Filed Oct. 9, 1957 F. LEISTER PILLOW BLOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet1 ATTORNEYS INVENTOR Sept. 1, 1959 I F. LESTER 2,902,322

. PILLOW BLOCK Filed Oct. 9, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY I.

ATTORNEYS Unite PILLOW BLOCK Fayette Leister, New Britain, Conn,assignor to The Fafnir Bearing Company, New Britain; Conn., acorporation of Connecticut AzpplicationOctober 9, 19.57, SerialNo.689,235. 3 Claims. (Cl. 308-184)- Another object is to provideanimproved form of pillow block formed of two parts, which areduplicates of, each other, which. when secured together, form acompletepillow block.

Other objects and various features of novelty and in-- vention Will behereinafter pointed out or will become apparent to those skilled in theart.

Briefly stated, in a preferred form of the invention the, pillow blockconsists of two upright plate members, which are d plicates of eachother, and which are. secured in face to face relationship so as toform-a complete pillow block. Each plate is provided with an annularoutwardly directedfiflange, and the flanges on the two plates are.complementary to each. other and. together for a housing for a hearing,such as an antifriction bearing.

Each plate at one end has a generally right angularly and transverselyextending flange at the side edge, which flange extends upwardlypreferably almost to the top of the bearing housing. There is anoutwardly turned foot flange extending horizontally from the uprightflange just mentioned and there is a gusset flange or stay formedintegrally with both the outturned foot flange and the upstanding flangeon the plate. Thus, each plate at one end has an exceedingly strongreinforced section integrally joining the foot and the plate. The feetare provided with openings for bolts or the like to secure the pillowblock to a support. Since these pillow block parts are duplicates ofeach other, the upstanding flange and the integral gusset flange on oneplate extend to one side of the pillow block, and on the other plateextend to the opposite side so that when the pillow block is securelyfastened to its support, any tendency to tip in either direction isresisted by the reinforcements at the ends.

The pillow block may have edge metal bottom surfaces asbout flush withthe bottoms of the foot sections to engage a support for the pillowblock. If desired, each plate may have an outwardly directed flange toengage the pillow block support when it is not desired to have edgemetal engagement.

The bearing in the bearing housing may consist of an antifrictionhearing, such as a ball bearing, and the outer ring may be formed moreor less spherically to fit the more or less spherically formed innersurface of the annular flanges forming the housing for the hearing. Inanother form, the outer ring of the hearing may be unfinished and thereis a bushing of resilient material such Sttes Patent 2,902,322 Patented.Sept. 1,. 1959 2. as artificialrubber surrounding the: outer ring andfitting within the bearing housing. Thus, the bearing will be permittedsome self alignment in the. housing, and when there is a rubber bushingsurrounding the bearing the entire device will be more or less silentinoperation.

In the drawings whichshow, for illustrative purposes only, preferredforms of the invention- Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a pillow blockillustrating features of the invention;

Fig; 2 in a side view in axial elevation of the pillow block shown inFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an edge view in quarter sectionof the pillow block and partsofFigs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the plates forming half of thepillow block;

Fig. 5' is a central vertical sectional view through the pillow blockshown in Fig. 2. and illustrating the bearing ring fitting directly inthe bearinghousing;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a slightly modifiedform of pillow block;

Fig. 7' is a horizontal sectional View of the pillow block shown in Fig.6; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially in the planeof the. line 8.-8' of Fig. 6.

My improved pillow block comprises essentially two. upright plates. 5-6secured in face to face relationship with each other as by means. ofbolts, screws, rivets or the like. 7'. Since these. plates areduplicates of each other, a descriptionof one will suifice for both.

If we consider the plate 5, for example, itwill be seen that the plate.is an upright plate pierced at about the center and having an outwardlydirected annular housing flange 8 extending therefrom so as to form one.part of: a housing for a bearing. The flange 8 may: have a radiallyinwardly turned end flange 9 to form a further part of the bearinghousing and to act as a further. support'axially for the bearing in thehousing.

The plate 5 on one end has a generally right angularly extending uprighttransverse flange 10 extending from the edge to an extent slightly morethan the extent to which the annular housing flange extends. The bottomof the upstanding flange 10 has a foot flange 11 extending laterallytherefrom, and there is a reinforcing gusset flange 12 integral withboth the outturned foot 11 and the transversely extending reinforcingflange 10 on the plate 5. Thus, the plate 5 is adequately reinforced atone end not only by the housing flange 8, but by the transverselyextending reinforcing flange 10 and integral gusset flange 12 integrallyconnecting the flange 10 and the foot 11. The foot has a hole 13 thereinfor the reception of a bolt, screw, or other device for holding a pillowblock to a support. Since the other plate 6 is a duplicate of the plate5, it will be seen that there is a duplicate construction at the otherend of the pillow block but formed on the other plate 6. Thus, thepillow block is adequately reinforced at each end, one reinforcementbeing on one plate, and the other reinforcement being on the otherplate. The flange 10 and the reinforcement thereon on one plate extendsto one side of the pillow block, while that on the other plate extendsto the other side of the. pillow block.

In the form shown in Fig. 3, the outer bearing ring 14 does not fitdirectly in the housing formed by the housing flanges 8--8, but issurrounded by a bushing 15 of resilient material such as artificialrubber or the like. This bushing preferably overlaps the sides of theouter ring and fits within the housing in the pillow block. The outerring 14 in this case need not be finished on the outer surface since itis embedded in the artificial rubber bushing. The bearing is thusallowed some self alignment in the housing. In the modification shown inFig. '5, the outer ring 14' is of generally spherical outer form so asto fit more or less the generally spherical inner' surface of thehousing formed by the flanges 8-8 described above.

Inthe form shown in Figs. 1 to 5, each plate has an edge metal bearingsurface 16 substantially flush with the bottom of the foot portions 11so .that the pillow block rests on the edge metal bottom edges of theplates 56 and of the foot portions heretofore described. If it isdesired to' have a broader base for the pillow block, each of the platesforming the pillow block is provided with an outwardly directed lowerbearing flange 17, which is bent outwardly from the bottom edge of theplates. This construction is shown in Figs. 6; 7 and 8. The bottoms ofthe foot or supporting flanges 17 are substantially flush with thebottoms of the outstanding feet at the ends of the pillow block so thatthe pillow block rests fully on the support and is supported by theflanges 17 and the feet. The flanges 17 preferably extend transverselyoutwardly somewhat beyond the housing flanges, as shown particularly inFig. 7, and these flanges 17 are preferably together about as wide .asthe feet at the end of the pillow bloc'k, also as shown in Fig. 7. i

It will be 'seen, therefore, that I have provided a pillow block formedof pressed metal, formed of two duplicate parts which when securedtogether form a secure housing .for a bearing, and which will beadequately reinforced not only by the housing formed integrallytherewith, but by integral supporting flanges at the ends of the pillowblock. The pillow block may have edge metal bearing surfaces at thebottom to rest directly upon a support, and these edge metal 'surfacesare substantially flush with the bottoms of the feet formed on thepillow block. In a modified form, the plates have' outwardly extendingsupporting feet to rest on the support for the pillow block. The hearingmay fit directly in the housing and may have some slight self-alignmenttherein, or the bearing may be mounted in a bushing of resilientmaterial, which itself is mounted in the housing. In either event, thehearing may self align slightly, and with the resilient bushing thepillow block is likely to be somewhat quieter during operation.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail andpreferred forms illustrated, it is to be understood that changes andmodifications may be made within the scope of the invention as definedin the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a pillow block, a pair of upstanding plates in 2. In thecombination defined in claim 1, said plates at the bottom having edgemetal bearing surfaces to engage a pillow block support, said edge metalbearing surfaces being substantially flush with the bottoms of said footflanges on said plates.

3. In the combination defined in claim 1, said upstanding plates'at thebottoms having outwardly directed bearing flanges removed from andindependent of said foot flanges to engage a pillow block support, thebottoms of said bearing flanges being substantially flush with thebottoms of said foot flanges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,114,670 Searles Apr. 19, 1938 2,695,203 Andersen Nov. 23, 19542,761,746 Abel Sept. 4, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 156,564 Australia May 18,1954

